HAVEG,
which is funded by SAAVI, is
researching ethical issues and developing country specific ethic
guidelines
as needed. The monitoring of AIDS
vaccine trials in South Africa is done by the MCC, Data Safety and
Monitoring Boards
and Institutional Ethics Committees.
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Challenges in developing an HIV/AIDS vaccine
Vaccines have generally been developed to protect the individual
against one strain of virus. HIV, however has the ability
to mutate, thereby resulting in different strains. It is
not yet known if it will be necessary to develop a vaccine
against each subtype of HIV or if it will be possible to
develop one that will protect against different subtypes.
An ideal vaccine would protect against all HIV strains.
HIV
vaccine development is complicated
by the fact that HIV infects the very cells
that a vaccine activates to produce immunity,
namely the T-helper cells.The
relationship between HIV and
how it affects the immune system
is still not completely understood. In order
to develop a vaccine, scientists must
first know which responses protect
against which virus so that the vaccine can
stimulate a specific response Researchers
are studying why some individuals
remain uninfected despite multiple exposure
to the virus or why others remain asymptomatic
for a long period of time after
infection Challenges in developing
an HIV/AIDS vaccine Vaccines
have generally been developed to protect the
individual against one strain of virus.
HIV,
however has the ability to
mutate, thereby resulting in different
strains. It is not yet known
if it will be necessary to develop a vaccine
against each subtype of HIV or if it will
be possible
to develop one that will protect
against different subtypes. An ideal vaccine
would protect against all HIV strains.HIV
vaccine development is complicated
by the fact that HIV infects the very cells
that a vaccine activates to produce immunity,
namely the T-helper cells.
The
relationship between HIV and
how it affects the immune
system is still not completely understood.
In order
to develop a vaccine, scientists must
first know which responses
protect against which virus so that the vaccine
can
stimulate a specific response Researchers
are studying why some individuals
remain uninfected despite multiple exposure
to the virus or why others remain asymptomatic
for a long period of time
after infection.
The
results of these studies would determine
the natural protective state upon which
a vaccine could be modelled.Because HIV can
exist
in the body as a free virus
or
infected cells, a vaccine will have to
induce a response in both humoral (anti-body)
and cellular immune response
mechanisms – this has not been achieved
yet
with any of the test vaccines that have
been developed.
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International efforts to develop an HIV vaccine
The
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)
is a global organization aimed at accelerating
the development
and distribution of preventive
AIDS vaccines. IAVI’s work focuses on: mobilizing
support through advocacy and education;
accelerating scientific progress;
encouraging industrial participation in AIDS
vaccine development; and assuring global
access. IAVI’s scientific effort
is focusing on viral strains prevalent in developing
countries and has enlisted developing
country scientists as full partners.
European
Vaccine Effort Against HIV/AIDS (EUROVAC) is
funded by the European Union and includes twenty-one
laboratories
from France, Italy, Germany, the
Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and
United Kingdom participating in a cluster
to bring European preventive HIV
vaccines into Phase I clinical trials. The
cluster is composed of three linked projects;
EuroVac I, EuroVac II, and EuroVac III.
The
International Council of AIDS Service Organizations
(ICASO) is a non-governmental organization
accredited to the United
Nations Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC). It consists of a global network of
non-governmental and community-based
organizations and was formed in
1991 with secretariats in five geographic regions,
and a central secretariat based
in Canada.
The
National Institutes of Health (NIH) is based
in the United States and forms part of the
U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. A component
of the NIH is the HIV Vaccine Trial Network.
This network comprises an international collaboration
of scientists and institutions
whose goal is to accelerate
the search for an HIV vaccine by
sharing trial results and facilitating parallel,
concurrent testing.
Merck & Co. Inc. is a global research-driven
pharmaceutical company that discovers,
develops, manufactures and markets a broad
range health products. Merck conducts
research at 11 major research centers
in the United States, Europe, and Japan, manufactures
products in 32 facilities
and sells products in approximately 150 countries.
Aventis
Pasteur is a pharmaceutical company that exclusively
concentrates its research on vaccines
(cancer vaccine, STD information,
AIDS, travel vaccinations, polio disease…).
Vaxgen
Inc. is focused on the commercial development
of biologic products for the prevention
of and treatment of human infectious disease.
Vaxgen split from Genentech
in 1995 and is funded by the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). VaxGen has two
preventive AIDS vaccine candidates
in Phase III clinical trials.
A
full listing of HIV/AIDS vaccines
currently being researched is accessible from
the IAVI website.
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The
South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI)
SAAVI
is a national body that was established
in 1999, by the South African cabinet and Eskom to co-ordinate the research,
development and testing
of an HIV/AIDS vaccine for South Africa.
SAAVI
is based at the Medical Research
Council (MRC) of South Africa in Cape Town
and is headed by Dr. Tim Tucker. SAAVI
contributes to international research with its focus on
HIV-1 subtype C which is the most prevalent
subtype in Southern Africa accounting for over 90% of new
infections.
Local
vaccine development will be based
mainly on this strain of HIV, however, the
aim is to develop a vaccine
that will work in this region and
if testing vaccines developed for other subtypes
will provide useful scientific information
for this goal then this will be
done – but only if scientifically valid.
The
overall goal of SAAVI is to produce
a safe, effective, affordable and accessible
HIV/AIDS vaccine for
South Africa and the SADC region in as short a
time as possible. Other
interests include: advocacy and
education, ethics and capacity building.
The
primary funding for this initiative
is received from Eskom and from the Departments
of Health, and of Science
and Technology (DST). Additional
funding is received from other
organisations like the US National Institutes
of Health (NIH); the HIV
Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), the European Union
and others. The
initial funding from government
was an amount of R5 million per year. This
was doubled to R10 million per
year in 2002.
The
board of Eskom initially agreed
to an annual payment of R7.5 million. However,
in 2002 this amount was
increased to R15 million.In addition,
Eskom has agreed to contribute R15 million
p.a. to the initiative until 2007
(is this per annum?){this info
was taken from the SAAVI website which states
R15 mil p.a}. To date Eskom has contributed
more than R37 million to SAAVI
– making it the largest corporate
contribution to vaccine research in the world.
SAAVI
has partnerships with several
institutions. These include: the National Institute
of Communicable Diseases
(NICD), the Universities of Cape
Town and Stellenbosch, the HIV/AIDS Vaccine
Ethics Group (HAVEG) at the University of
Natal, the Chris Hani Baragwanath
Perinatal HIV/AIDS Research Unit, the MRC Vaccine
Trials Unit, the Cape Town Clinical
Trials Consortium, Aurum Health,
and the South African HIV Vaccine Action Campaign
(SA HIVAC).
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Developing an HIV vaccine in South Africa
Other
groups in South Africa are working to develop
a vaccine for HIV/AIDS. The Universities of
Cape Town and Stellenbosch are noteworthy.
The
University of Cape Town (UCT) Project
